Star Indian shuttler Saina Nehwal put up a strong fight but went down 13-21, 21-13, 6-21 in 52 minutes to World No. 1 Tai Tzu Ying in Denmark Open final to settle for silver.

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Six years back on this day, Saina won her first and only Denmark Open. She, however, failed to break her losing spree against the Taiwanese as she registered her 11th straight loss to Tai Tzu. World No. 10 Saina lost all five matches this year to Tai Tzu with the Asian Games semifinal being their last encounter.

Tai Tzu drew the first blood as she took a four point lead at the beginning of the match. She went into the break of the first game with a lead of five points. Saina attempted a comeback after the mid-game interval by winning three straight points but it was too little too late as Tai Tzu went on to win the opening game within 15 minutes.

The second game was controlled by the Indian shuttler as she began with a two-point lead. Tai Tzu misjudged multiple shots to gift points to Saina, who went into the break with a lead of six points. Saina managed to push the match into decider as she won a game against Tai for the first time after 6 matches.

Tai Tzu, however, took a commanding lead to go into the break with the scoreline reading 11-2 in the decider as the Indian shuttler lacked the aggression displayed in the second game. Tai Tzu was in full control of the match towards the end, beating Saina with a huge difference of 15 points.

Saina has now played 17 finals in the BWF World Tour and Superseries events. Among active women’s singles players only Tai Tzu Ying has played more at 25.